The Round 2 opener was the Friday Night match between Villarreal & RCD Espanyol. The final result & the 3 points went to the home side 3 - 1 with a 2º half comeback with new signing Roberto Soldado starring.
Espanyol got ahead first with an early 4th min goal from Caicedo. However, Villarreal took advantage of the lack of finishing endeavour from the visitors & slowly pulled their game back together. In the 66th min Roberto Soldado pulled a quick shot out of the bag to score & lifted moral. Later in the 86th min Soldado passed to Bakambu who equalized, to later score again with the winner in the 93rd min. Two vital goals from Bakambu & inspirational Soldado for Villarreal.
Real Sociedad hosted this afternoon Real Sporting de Gijon with the home team putting from the start returning "home" midfielder Asier Illaramendi from Real Madrid. The final result a 0 - 0 draw in a game that saw both teams work hard but create very little goal opportunities.
FC Barcelona hosted Malaga FC with Brazilian star Neymar back after sickness to boost the forward line. The final result was a worked 1 - 0 victory for Barça with a 74th min goal by defender Vermaelen after he hooked onto a loose ball that Malaga goalie Kameni could not hold from a Suarez shot.
Malaga stood firm all match & neutralized the Barça efforts at goal. However, the continuous advances by Barça finally managed to crack the Malaga tactical stance for the 3 points.
Celta de Vigo defeated Madrid club Rayo Vallecano 3 - 0 with the latter down to 10 men from the 9th min. From that red card given to Rayo goalie Toño came the first of two goals from Celta forward Nolito in the 11th min. The second goal from Nolito came in the 50th minute & Celta managed to control the match till the end even scoring a third goal through Fontas in the 90th min.
Real Madrid defeated Real Betis 5 - 0 & left aside the debate about the teams lack of goals this season. James Rodriguez & Benzema started from the beginning & both gave the team more flow & punch upfront & were protagonists. Gareth Bale was also active & was also under the spotlight himself scoring, while Cristiano Ronaldo still was unlucky facing goal even though he had plenty of chances. Lastly, Keylor Navas sent a message over to Directives as he put in a great match, including stopping a 2º half penalty!
The goalscorers were:
- Gareth Bale (header) 2nd min
- James Rodriguez (free-kick) 38th min
- Karim Benzema (header) 47th min
- James Rodriguez (overhead) 49th min
- Gareth Bale (outside the box - 20 mts - shot) 88th min
Sergio Ramos hit the post with an overhead 76th min!
Good performance overall by Real Madrid which looks like getting the pieces back in order.
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